BMW Unveils Sporty Electric Powered BMW Car
The race for the first ever commercially available and trendy electric powered car has began as BMW unveils an artist sketch of their trendy car, the BMW Electric Car which might hit car showrooms in 2-3 years. However it will not be the first one to release a mass produced car for in 2012, Daimler will deliver to showrooms a battery-powered version of its two-seat Smart car.
BMW is not worried however because it would be designing an entirely different car and will be testing a new approach to electric powered vehicles. BMW will be designing a megacity vehicle around its electric drive system from the start.
Besides this new approach BMW will also be using a new material in car construction, carbon fiber. The new car will have a substantial amount of carbon fiber hardened with epoxy and molded into compartments. Because of this the car will be lightweight despite the heavy addition of electric batteries.
"Carbon fiber construction is one of the enablers of electric mobility," said Jochen Töpker, a BMW engineer who manages the company's joint venture with SGL, which is based in Wiesbaden, Germany.
By using the megacity technology the design will take advantage of the compactness of the vehicle since it when running on electric power the car will not need a transmission, exhaust or muffler. The electric motor will go in the back of the vehicle. The batteries, the heaviest and bulkiest part of the drive train, will go under the floor in the aluminum chassis.
For detailed information about this latest development in BMW and electric-powered cars click here.
Photo from the New York Times and Yahoo! Finance.
